Syracuse, N.Y. -- Eric Dungey nearly willed Syracuse football to a win at Florida State last season despite playing on a broken foot.

The senior quarterback revealed his injury this summer, after undergoing surgery, but only talked at length about that game in Tallahassee for the first time on Tuesday. He said the game has no effect on how he's approaching the rematch this weekend.

"I don't know if you've ever played on a broken foot before," Dungey said tongue-in-cheek, "but it's no fun.

"But it's just kind of the way I was raised. There's no quit in me. As long as I could be on the field, I was going to be out there for the guys."

After falling forward on a quarterback draw five plays into the game, Dungey felt a Seminoles defender step down on his foot, crunching his big toe and pushing it into the top of his foot. Running back Dontae Strickland tried to signal to the coaching staff that Dungey was hurt. Instead, two plays later, Dungey was called on to throw a pass and he was unable to step into it, resulting in a Derwin James interception.

Backup quarterback Zack Mahoney came on for four drives, before Dungey returned with the Orange trailing 14-0.

"I went to the medical people and I said, 'Are you guys sure?'" head coach Dino Babers said. "Because the last thing I want to do is hurt anyone. And they're like, 'He can't hurt anything more.'

"So I said (to Dungey), 'OK, we'll see. If you can do something, I'll leave you out there. If not, I'll pull you back out.'"

Fitted with a heavy tape job on his foot and a brace on his knee, Dungey didn't waste any time in testing his foot. He targeted Steve Ishmael downfield on his first play back then was forced out of the pocket right, sent hobbling after a throwaway.

But he stood in the pocket to hit Ishmael on a crossing route to convert 3rd and 10, sparking a drive that finished with a 47-yard scoring strike to Jamal Custis.

From there, the highlights piled up. Dungey ran through a Cyrus Fagan tackle early in the third quarter, picking up 29 yards and helping set up a Cole Murphy field goal. Then he capped off a 14-play, 75-yard touchdown drive late in the fourth quarter with a 3-yard rush to pull SU within 27-24.

After the Orange defense forced a crucial stop, Dungey converted a 3rd-and-14 on a timing route to Ishmael. He connected with Erv Philips and Ishmael again with less than a minute left to set up a 43-yard field goal attempt.

But Murphy's kick would be slightly deflected by James and sail left as time expired.

"Once again, it just goes to show you how tough Eric Dungey is and how courageous he is, and how fortunate we are to have an opportunity to watch him one more year," Babers said. "I mean, when this guy rolls out of here, there's going to be tall tales about him. And everybody will be like, 'He didn't do that.' The heck he did. You go back and google it. He played an entire game on a broken foot and almost won the game."

Dungey said the foot swelled up significantly after the game, leaving him far less mobile than he was during his 387-yard, three-touchdown performance. He tried to get loosened up for each of the team's final three games as Syracuse chased bowl eligibility, but Dungey never felt he was capable of protecting himself on the field.

"It was always a game-time decision," Dungey said. "I'd always walk around in a boot during the week, but during the game, I always told Coach, 'I'm going to give it a go. I'm going to see how it's feeling.'

"But when you're not able to walk, it's tough. Coach didn't want to put me out there in a situation where I could potentially harm myself worse."

Dungey will look to continue to build his legacy in the Orange's ACC opener on Saturday. SU (2-0) and FSU (1-1) kick off at noon in the Carrier Dome.